I. The Church, The Sphere of Grace¶
Man is a creature gifted with intelligence, affection, and will. By a right use of these endowments, he is by nature able in some measure to know, to love, and to serve God. That he may be able to do these things more perfectly, God adds to man’s natural endowments a supernatural gift, that is to say, a gift above nature. This supernatural gift is termed grace. By grace man is lifted out of the natural order, and placed in a higher condition. This higher condition is known as a ‘state of grace.’ In a state of grace man is able to know, to love, and to serve God more perfectly. God has organized his Church as the sphere in which man may, in this life, be received into a state of grace. Christ lifts us out of the order of nature, and places us in the state of grace, and thus fits us for the life of glory in heaven. The Church of God on earth is the highway of grace; the sure and trustworthy road along which we may pass to glory. It is in the Church, and through the Church, that our Lord Jesus Christ still carries on his work of saving men by uniting them to himself. The Church is the scene of his promised action upon souls, a sort of Palestine or Holy Land in which He is still pleased to work. Within the Church, we are within the circle of covenanted grace. Outside the Church there is neither the warrant nor the certainty of grace. In the words “I am the vine, ye are the branches,”[1] our Lord teaches a great truth.
As the sap flows from the vine through the branches to the foliage and fruit, so his grace flows through the Church to her members. It is the office of the Church, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, to put men in union with, and to keep them in union with, Jesus Christ, the Author of grace.